Smokers Who Quit Before Age 40 Live as Long as Non-Smokers & Now There's No Excuse Not to Quit

Hey, if you haven't turned 40 yet, here's a good reason to light up: According to a recent study, while smoking takes at least 10 years off a person's life, "people who quit smoking before they turn 40 regain almost all of those potentially lost years." Anybody have a match? KIDDING. I'm just kidding, relax! Obviously there's no good reason to smoke, no matter how old you are. If current stats are correct, "smoking will kill about one billion people in the 21st century as opposed to 100 million in the 20th century."

But this is fairly fascinating -- and potentially life-saving -- news. Why? Well, if you've ever known a long-term smoker, you know one of the most common excuses for not quitting: "I've smoked this long, what's the difference now?"

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Sound familiar? I've heard this so many times, in so many ways, from "I've been smoking a pack a day for 10 years. If I'm gonna get cancer, I'm already doomed." "I've been smoking for 15 years ... 20 years ... 30 years ... " They all boil down to the same (pointless) point: "I'm already going to die from smoking, so why quit now? The damage is done."

Ah, but apparently it's not so simple. Which is great! And of course, for a lot of people, scary -- because now there's no excuse not to quit.